This blog is written by a journalist based in Mumbai who writes about cities, the environment, developmental issues, the media, women and many other subjects.The title 'ulti khopdi' is a Hindi phrase referring to someone who likes to look at things from the other side.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Just a fortnight before India turns 60 — anage that is supposed to signify maturity andrespectability — a front page newspaperheadline hammered in another reality.“Bigamous man tortures spouses for maleoffspring,” stated the headline of a story on page one of The Telegraphon July 29, 2007. “Six abortions, all for ason,” read the strap.

Not an auspicious way to mark 60 years ofIndependence if our society continues to be a slaveto son preference. Something has to change. But ithasn’t happened yet. Not by a long shot.

The story referred to above was about two womenmarried to one man in Padra, near Vadodara inGujarat. Bigamy is illegal. And so is sex selectiveabortion. In Padra, however, none of this mattered.Rajesh first married Sunita, who is now 27 yearsold. In nine years of marriage, she has been forcedto have six abortions because after the first child,a girl, Rajesh insisted he wanted a boy. So everytime she became pregnant, she had to find outwhether she was going to have a boy or a girl. If itwas a girl, then she had no choice but to abort.Except once, when it was too late to abort, and shedelivered another girl. Today, seven months into herninth pregnancy, she says she refused to haveanother abortion and survived her husband kickingher to induce an abortion.

The second wife, 22-year-old Kajal, had just givenbirth to a baby girl. She says that when her childwas delivered, Rajesh held the infant upside downand said, “I didn’t marry you to producegirls”. She had to beg him not to kill thechild.

1 comment:

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My profile

Journalist, columnist, writer based in Mumbai. Author of "Rediscovering Dharavi: Stories from Asia's largest slum" (Penguin, 2000). Worked with The Hindu, Times of India, Indian Express and Himmat Weekly.
Other books include "Whose News? The Media and Women's Issues" edited with Ammu Joseph (published by Sage 1994/2006), "Terror Counter-Terror: Women Speak Out" edited with Ammu Joesph (published by Kali for Women, 2003) and "Missing: Half the Story, Journalism as if Gender Matters" (published by Zubaan, 2010).
Regular columns in The Hindu, Sunday Magazine and on The Hoot (www.thehoot.org).